While Borsa Istanbul (BIST) is expecting to tie up loose ends in its strategic partnership deal with the U.S Nasdaq OMX Group soon, it is also currently in partnership talks with ten global institutions, BIST President İbrahim Turhan has said.

“I hope that strategic partnership with Nasdaq OMX will be finalized after the Capital Markets Board’s (SPK) approval. The technical side of the process has already been seen to,” Turhan said during a meeting organized by Turkey’s Investor Relations Association (TÜYİD) late Nov. 25.

The deal was signed in July but is still subject to approval by Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK), which is currently reviewing the terms of the deal.

Turhan noted that there were currently ten international institutions that have accepted the strategic partnership with the BIST in principle. They are set to negotiate further and choose the bests options among them to make BIST an institution that can be competitive in the “world super league,” he said.

The deal would provide the BIST with the technology to become a regional platform for other exchanges and facilitate trading, Turhan said in an interview with Bloomberg early this month. “This partnership may include an equity stake,” he said, declining to comment on the size of the sale.

IPO planned for 2016

Turhan also said at the meeting that after achieving their targets as per their strategic plan, they aim to make BIST shares available to the public by way of its initial public offering (IPO) by 2016. For this reason, they will continue to work in cooperation with financial institutions to facilitate corporate investors’ access to Turkish markets.

Speaking at the same event, the SPK Head Vahdettin Ertaş said , while 16 companies went public in 2013, which provided funds of around 1.3 billion Turkish Liras ($650 million), the number would rise to 25 by the end of the year.

The BIST market value reached $270 billion and the number of companies traded rose to 420, he noted.